November 2, 2009

Mitch Schoch from SimpleVoice.com built an interesting 4 axis DIY Foam Cutting CNC Machine. It has lots of control since all 4 motors can be driven independently. His design is modular, he has used phone jacks and 24 gauge phone cable to provide power the motors. Everything was purchased from the local hardware store so there are no exotic parts in the unit. From the video he looks to be using standard threaded rod and some big drawer slides to provide smooth motion with the use of the stepper motors.

R/C plane fanatics build these as there are heaps of free instructables on the web. It’ll cost you about 100+ dollars to make one if you find a scrap transformer etc.

they usually use NiChrome wires, which are cheap and readily available in hobby shops for this purpose. You just need a transformer and make sure you don’t burn your fingers. Advanced homebuilders even employ temperature sensors as the the wire-voltage needs to be regulated to match the size and length of the cut.

[…] There are lots of ways to get the job done, you could use the standard utility knife or make a wire cutting CNC machine. But with a bit of time and a few dollars of parts (or possible no cost in parts based on the size […]